David Eby

David Robert Patrick Eby (born July 21, 1976) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who has been serving as the 37th and current premier of British Columbia since November 18, 2022, and has been serving as the leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) since October 21, 2022. A member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Eby has represented the riding of Vancouver-Point Grey since 2013. From 2017 to 2022, he served in the John Horgan cabinet as Attorney General.

Early life and career

Eby grew up in Kitchener, Ontario and is of Swiss Mennonite descent on his father's side. His father, Brian, was a personal injury lawyer and his mother, Laura, was a teacher, and later a grade school principal. He has a sister, and two brothers, named Matthew and Patrick. He was president of St. Mary’s High School in his final year.

He studied English at the University of Waterloo and worked for a communications firm after graduation. In 2004, he graduated from Schulich School of Law in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He articled for the federal Department of Justice and was called to the bar in June 2005.

He worked at Pivot Legal Society from 2005 to 2008 in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside before becoming the executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) from 2008 until 2012. He is the author of ''The Arrest Handbook: A Guide to Your Rights'', published by the BCCLA.

He was an adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia (UBC) from 2009 to 2013, and also has served as president of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and as a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Early political career (2008–2017)

In 2008, Eby sought a Vancouver city council nomination from Vision Vancouver but was unsuccessful.

In 2011, Eby stood as the NDP candidate in the by-election for Vancouver-Point Grey. The riding had been vacated by former premier Gordon Campbell and was being contested by newly sworn-in premier Christy Clark, of the BC Liberal Party, who did not hold a seat in the legislature. Eby placed a close second, only 595 votes behind Clark. Two years later, ahead of the 2013 general election, he again sought the NDP nomination in Vancouver-Point Grey for a rematch against Clark. On election day, Eby defeated Clark in a rare instance of a premier being unseated despite their party winning re-election.

After his election as MLA, Eby was named to the NDP shadow cabinet as critic for advanced education. Eby strongly considered standing in the 2014 British Columbia New Democratic Party leadership election, but declined after learning his then-fiancée was pregnant. He then served as campaign co-chair of John Horgan's successful leadership bid. Later that year, Eby became critic for tourism, housing, gaming and liquor policy. As housing critic, he called for an inquiry into Vancouver's real estate market over a practice called "shadow flipping", suggesting it was being done as part of tax avoidance and money laundering.

In 2016, former NDP premier Glen Clark described Eby as "the future of the NDP".

Attorney General of British Columbia (2017–2022)

Following the 2017 British Columbia election, which saw the NDP form government with the support of the Green Party, Eby was appointed to the cabinet of John Horgan as Attorney General. He additionally became minister responsible for liquor, gaming and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC).

During Eby's tenure, British Columbia passed anti-SLAPP legislation. B.C. briefly had similar legislation in 2001, enacted by the then-incumbent NDP government that year before being repealed by the subsequent Liberal government. The new law was stronger than the previous version, removing the requirement to prove the person suing had bad intentions and needing only to show that being sued negatively impacted their ability to express an opinions a matter of public interest. Josh Paterson, the executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said the law should be "the model that other provinces should seek to copy."

In 2018, ''Maclean's'' described Eby's workload as "handl ngevery live grenade in B.C. politics."

On July 19, 2022, Eby stepped down from cabinet in order to stand in the 2022 British Columbia New Democratic Party leadership election.

ICBC reform

On July 24, 2017, Eby released a report by accounting firm Ernst & Young that concluded that ICBC was in a poor financial situation. The report found the problem to lie in "the rising number and size of claims, larger cash settlements for minor injuries, and more claims costs going towards legal representation than to claimants", and that without significant reform, premiums for drivers would have to rise by almost 30 percent in two years to avoid significant losses. Over the next few months, Eby enacted immediate measures to help tackle the issue, including a rate hike of 6.4%, red light cameras at high-collision intersections, and a pilot program to eliminate distracted driving. On January 28, 2018, ICBC projected a net loss of $1.3 billion by the end of the current fiscal year. The following day, Eby described ICBC as a "financial dumpster fire" due to the "reckless decisions" and negligence of the previous Liberal government: "They knew the dumpster was on fire, but they pushed it behind the building instead of trying to put the fire out." Eby promised "major reforms to make ICBC financially viable again" would be announced shortly, but ruled out a switch to a no-fault insurance system.

On February 7, 2018, the BC government announced several major changes to accident coverage. The payment for soft-injury claims was capped at $5,500; medical benefits and wage loss payments were doubled; common treatments became pre-approved; payouts changed from a lump-sum to a "care-based model" to cover costs on an as-needed basis; and ICBC changed its dispute-resolution mechanism to a new civil resolution system to reduce legal costs. The changes were estimated to save $1 billion a year, though Eby did not rule out a rate increase in the future. In September 2018, a new method of calculating insurance premiums came into effect that was more heavily weighted towards driving experience and crash history, and overall determined more by driver than vehicle. The change was expected to be revenue neutral, with two-thirds of drivers seeing their rates reduced but the remaining third of riskier drivers paying substantially more.

On February 7, 2019, ICBC reported a net loss of $860 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year. The corporation blamed the loss on the escalating cost of insurance claims, and Eby said that reports from expert witnesses — some files including as much as six medical experts — were driving the costs. Four days later, on February 11, Eby announced a cap on expert witnesses, to a maximum of three. On October 24, 2019, the Supreme Court of British Columbia struck down the cap, finding it "infringe on the court's core jurisdiction to control its process". The province decided not to appeal and instead pursued new legislation to limit the number of expert reports while making allowances for judicial discretion on whether additional experts are needed.

On February 6, 2020, Eby, alongside Premier Horgan, announced that ICBC would be moving to a no-fault system. The change limited the types of collision where an ICBC customer can go to court for damage, with disputes instead being handled through the Civil Resolution Tribunal. The change to a no-fault system was justified as dramatically reducing the legal costs of ICBC, faster payment of benefits, and lower premiums. The announcement was criticized by the Trial Lawyers Association of BC. The introduction of no-fault insurance came despite Eby having previously ruled it out; Eby justified his change of mind by saying "I had too much confidence that the legal system could change more quickly than it actually can … I also had an inadequate understanding of how poorly the existing system supports people who have been in accidents." Eby had been investigating the merits of no-fault insurance since late 2018; after having been told by ICBC officials that his cap on injury costs would save $1 billion annually but still wasn't enough to prevent a 36% rate increase over the next five years, Eby was convinced the current set-up was unsustainable. Horgan had given his approval in December 2019.

The NDP government's 2020 budget projected an $86 million surplus for ICBC in the 2020/21 fiscal year, growing to $191 million by 2022/2023. It was the first posted surplus for the corporation since 2015/16. On March 2, 2020, Eby announced plans to introduce legislation to ensure ICBC's profits would remain in the corporation, used to reduce premiums or increase benefits, and prevent governments using it to cover other expenses — a practice Eby had previously criticized the Liberal government for, and that he said had contributed to ICBC's poor financial state.

On March 4, 2020, the government that the maximum payout for serious disabling injuries would rise from $300,000 to $7.5 million; the move was to be financed by further moving disputes from court to the civil resolution tribunal, expected to save $1.5 billion in legal fees. Eby predicted the new amendments would lead to a "street fight" with personal injury lawyers. The legislation was challenged by the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., and on March 3, 2021, the B.C. Supreme Court struck down the rules. It found that the government's decision to move the determination of accident claims out of the court system to its own tribunals to be unconstitutional, and rejected the government's argument that injury cases were clogging the court system. The government appealed the decision, and on May 17, 2022, the B.C. Court of Appeal reversed the lower court's decision and sided with the government.

Investigation into money laundering

Upon being appointed minister, Eby was surprised to discover that the scale of money laundering in the province was much larger than he had believed. He found it "incomprehensible that the previous government had not done more to reduce the risk of money laundering and criminal activity in B.C. gambling facilities." On September 28, 2017, the government officially launched an investigation into the breadth of money laundering being done in the province's casinos. Eby hired Peter German, a former deputy commissioner of the RCMP and Correctional Service Canada and the author of Canada's leading anti-money-laundering law textbook, to lead the investigation. German's 2018 report found that over $100 million of dirty money had been cleaned in B.C. due to "a collective system failure."

On May 8, 2019, a report by an expert panel on dirty money found that $7.4 billion was laundered in B.C. in the previous year, with $5.3 billion going through real estate transactions. A week later, on May 15, the government announced a public inquiry into money laundering, to be headed by B.C. Supreme Court justice Austin Cullen. The inquiry would look into real estate, gaming, financial institutions and the corporate and professional sectors. On June 14, 2022, Cullen's final report was released. It concluded that the federal anti-money laundering regime is not effective, and that the province needed to develop its own system and tools in order to combat the problem. Cullen said that while it is impossible to come up with an exact figure, he estimated that the amount of money laundered in the province was in the billions. He also found no evidence of corruption among previous gaming ministers, and that they had tried to address the issue, but admitted that they could have done more.

Electoral reform

As part of the deal with the Greens, the NDP government committed to holding a referendum on electoral reform. On October 4, 2017, Eby announced that the referendum would be conducted by mail ballot in by the end of November 2018 and would require a simple province-wide majority to be approved. Between November 2017 and February 2018, Eby conducted public consultation on what questions should be on the ballot. On May 30, Eby announced that the ballot would be two questions: the first asking whether to change to from the current first-past-the-post (FPTP) system to a proportional representation (PR) system, and the second asking voters to pick between three different models: dual-member proportional, mixed-member proportional and rural-urban proportional. On December 20, 2018, Elections BC announced that 61.3% of ballots voted to keep FPTP.

In a post-referendum interview, Eby explained that the two-question ballot was the result of the public consultations, and reflected a lack of consensus on an alternative system. He admitted surprise at how decisive the result was, but did not think any form of PR would have won in a single-ballot referendum, and concluded "It does not seem to me British Columbians were in favour of changing the system. They seem happy with the system we have."

Housing

After the 2020 election, Eby was given the additional role of minister responsible for housing.

In an interview with the ''Times Colonist'' in February 2021, Eby outlined his goal to move everyone living in Victoria's parks into shelter by the end of March, and everyone living in Vancouver's Strathcona Park into shelter by the end of April. While this would require "an array of responses" that included temporary pod-like housing, Eby clarified that permanent housing was the end goal. The government later signed deals with the cities of Victoria and Vancouver to this effect.

As minister, Eby vigorously pushed for more homeless shelters, lobbying municipal governments and politicians to approve zoning plans and permit extensions ahead of their votes. Eby's actions drew criticism from some municipal politicians, such as the mayors of Cranbrook and Penticton, but he defended his approach: "I would be incredibly negligent in not peakingto municipal leaders that are voting on vitally important projects to prevent entrenched encampments in their communities."

Eby faced notable conflict with the City of Penticton. On March 2, 2021, the city council voted unanimously to deny a temporary-use permit to B.C. Housing that the agency needed to continue to run an emergency winter homeless shelter past March 31. Eby called the news "profoundly troubling", and noted that the council had assured him that they would grant the permit. Eby further said it was important to keep the shelter open until the agency built an additional supportive housing unit. Two weeks later, on March 18, Eby announced that the government would be using its power of paramountcy to overrule the council. That July, Penticton officially filed with the B.C. Supreme Court to challenge the provincial government's use of paramountcy powers.

In 2021, the B.C. government hired accounting firm Ernst & Young to conduct an independent probe of the B.C. Housing agency; their report, completed in May 2022, found the agency had inadequate oversight, and that unclear roles and responsibilities potentially impacted its ability to manage risks. Following the public release of the report, Eby dismissed the agency's board of commissioners. In July, he ordered a forensic audit of B.C. Housing.

Premier of British Columbia (since 2022)

NDP leadership campaign

In his 2022 leadership campaign, Eby advocated multiple solutions to the province's housing crisis. To combat flipping, Eby proposed a tax on the sale of residences that are sold within two years of being purchased.

Eby was endorsed by 48 of his caucus colleagues. On October 20, 2022, Eby won the leadership race by default after the disqualification of Anjali Appadurai, his only challenger. He was declared the leader of the BC New Democratic Party and Premier-designate of British Columbia on October 21, 2022.

Tenure

Eby was sworn in on November 18, 2022, in a ceremony led by the Musqueam Indian Band. He outlined housing, public safety and health care as his priorities. Immediately after being sworn in, Eby announced two tax credits — a one-time credit for electricity bills, and a new B.C. Affordability Credit for low-to-medium income families — to help deal with affordability concerns.

Personal life

His wife, Cailey Lynch, was a registered nurse, and later studied medicine at UBC and is now a family doctor. They have a son, Ezra, and a daughter, Iva.

Eby played in and provided vocals for several electro-indie rock bands, including Ladner and World of Science.

Elections

References

External links

Official websiteThe Arrest Handbook: A Guide to Your Rights

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eby, David
1977 births
Living people
Premiers of British Columbia
Attorneys General of British Columbia
British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs
Canadian civil rights lawyers
Canadian King's Counsel
Canadian Mennonites
Lawyers in British Columbia
Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia
Members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
Politicians from Kitchener, Ontario
Politicians from Vancouver
University of British Columbia faculty
Canadian nonprofit executives
21st-century Canadian politicians
Canadian people of German descent